


Faith and Justice

by CybeleEvelysse



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Childbirth, F/M, Guilt, Happy Ending, Pregnancy, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27365473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CybeleEvelysse/pseuds/CybeleEvelysse
Summary: Sumire Yoshizawa is dead. Could using the metaverse even help?Already established romantic relationship with Goro and Sumire. Written from second person perspective where the "you" is Goro.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi
Kudos: 22





	Faith and Justice

The room feels cold, still, silent. The world around you is moving, but you cannot see it, you cannot feel it, you cannot hear it. Your body moves from an outside force, it pushes you backward, away from her, and all you want to do is push your way back. You couldn't be away from her, you couldn't leave her side, you promised her you wouldn't. She trusts you, you cannot betray that trust, that faith, even now.

Your hand clenches into a fist, the rage boiling within you. It is a rage you thought you had long since left behind, a rage that you thought she had calmed forever, but now it returns with nothing to stop it. Her light cannot touch you now, it cannot heal you now. All of the wounds lay raw once more, fully exposed for the world to see, and the pain is too much for you to bear. The anger, the hatred, it is the only thing that can cover them, though the layer is thin, so thin that it cracks and lets tears fall from your eyes.

"Fix her!" You scream, your voice remembering the murderous intent you once held toward shadows, shadows that you had slain with her beside you. She told you that you were ruthless then and you will show no mercy now either. They will fix her, or you will kill them. It is the only option left to you now.

The doctors do not respond. They call out the time of death as if it is routine, as if she does not matter. A nurse looks upon your face with pity instead of fear as you intended. Is this what you have become? You are a powerless pathetic shell of your former self, with no ability to do anything. You cannot save her. All you have ever known how to do is kill, and killing won't bring her back.

Sumire Yoshizawa is dead.

You look at your hands, the blood upon them, her blood, now visible to your eyes and your eyes only. You watch, as if in a trance, as it drips down to the floor and pools beneath your feet. You imagine it drowning you.

This is your fault. You are responsible for this. You thought you could escape your past. You thought that her bless was powerful enough to dispel your curse. You truly believed you could find happiness with her, despite everything you had done, for she was kind and loving and never held any contempt toward you.

Oh how you were wrong. The curse was never dispelled, it had merely been transferred to her. She is the one who took on the punishment for your sins. The punishment that you had been avoiding this entire time. The world never truly forgave you. It merely postponed it's justice until the right moment.

This is the moment it chose. The moment that you wanted for Shido all those years ago. The moment where everything important to you could be ripped from beneath your feet right at the very peak of your happiness. You can now feel the pain that you had only imagined previously for yourself, and it rips through your soul, slashing it to shreds as if done by your own sword, your own hand. The guilt of your past returns to consume you, and you do not fight it any longer. You let the pain envelope you in a sweet symphony of agonizing, torturous screams that you recognize easily as the voices of your victims.

This is the punishment you deserve for stealing away the life of a mother. A mother who dearly loved her daughter. Futaba's mother would never fulfill her promises to her daughter, all because of you. She would never see her daughter graduate. She would never see her walk down the aisle. She would never get to be a grandmother.

How could you take away her mother, when you yourself know what it is like to have lost yours? How could you inflict that same pain upon her, and then later still call her your friend? You do not deserve her forgiveness, yet she willingly gives it, seeking no justice for herself.

This is the punishment you have earned for murdering a father who wanted to change his ways. Soft, sweet, kind Haru will never have her father back the way that he was meant to be, the way that she remembers him. You took that from her. You let her think she had finally freed him of his wretched, twisted desires, then allowed her to watch as he perished on live television in front of the world.

How could you do that to her? Even after discovering all of this, she still treats you with kindness, for it is not within her nature to be cruel, and she too never seeks justice for herself, for her father.

Now you have committed your worst sin of all. You took someone as innocent as Sumire and ruined her. Defiled her. You filled her fragile heart with the words she wanted to hear, and used them to warp her mind into believing that she could love a creature like you. You touched her body with your hands, your lips, and stained her skin, pure as the winter snow, with blood.

Your legs collapse from beneath you and you fall to your knees. Your body feels as if the life has been drained from it, and you let your hands drop limply to the floor. Her glass slippers lay shattered there, and you feel the shards pierce the palms of your hands, tiny glass slivers making their way into your skin, never to be removed. Midnight has passed now, the spell is over, and the damage is irreparable. The shoes will never be worn again.

The room clears of people, and you are left alone with her, left alone to look at what you have done. If only you had not defiled her, if only you had not let your desires take hold of you. If only you had died as you were meant to all those years ago, then she would still be alive. Her sister had died to save her, and you had lived to kill her.

Her phone vibrates on the table next to you, and you think of the friends she will never message back, of her parents who have now lost both daughters tragically and far too soon. How is this justice, you wonder. Why did she deserve to be punished for your crimes?

The phone continues to vibrate until it falls off the table, and the screen cracks from the impact. It is then that you see what is shown on the display. Your hand moves toward it, hesitantly. Your fingertips touch the screen, activating it. It's asking for a location, and keywords. This is not a coincidence, you think, someone is telling you to use the metaverse.

Your mind scrambles to come up with the words, the words that you need to fill in the blank fields on the screen. You're a detective, you can figure this out, you just need to act quickly. "Sumire Yoshizawa," You whisper, your voice trembling.

"No results found," The metanav responds. Of course she doesn't have a palace. She could never have a palace. This is hopeless. Even if she did have one, it's gone now. You can't access the cognitive world of a dead person.

Wait, you think, perhaps you've used the wrong name. It may not be over, the brain can live after death for some time. You just need to put aside your guilt and use the name that she chose to be called. The name that she wanted to take after she married you. "Sumire Akechi," You whisper once more, your voice even more unsure and unstable than the last time. 

"Match found." Your eyes widen and your heart skips a beat. You have to think quickly, think of her keywords. What would Sumire think of her heart as? You cannot hesitate.

"Home," You begin, and the metanav fills in the word. Her heart is your home, you had told her many times. This answer was the easy one. You try desperately to think of what her other keyword is, searching your memories for clues. "Gymnastics?" You guess, but you are incorrect. "Kasumi Yoshizawa?" Another wrong guess. "Fuck, Sumire. I know you better than anyone, why can't I figure this out?" Your voice is strained and frustrated and it breaks as you speak. You don't give up though. "Violet? Cinderella? Glass slippers? Cooking?" Not a single match. Maybe this is hopeless, maybe…

That's when the glint of your wedding band catches your eye. You idiot, you knew all along, you just couldn't say it. You _are_ her desire. She had told you so many times, told you of how she dreamed of being with you forever, of how she wanted to have a family with you. Now look at where that got her. You can't let it end this way. You need to say it. "...Goro Akechi."

"Match found, now navigating."

You feel the world around you change as it is replaced with an infinite blackness. You don't know where you are. This doesn't feel like a palace at all. It feels like...death. You rise to your feet and they move you forward, but the scenery does not change. Everything is dark, and the pain of seeing Sumire's once bright and light filled mind this way causes you to begin to lose your resolve. What could you possibly have hoped to have done here? The only thing you are capable of is killing.

Flickers of memories dance around you, flickers of her, going off like fireworks then dissipating. A day at a cafe with you and Akira. The rain filled afternoon that took her sister away. An evening beneath the cherry blossom trees. Winning the gold at an international gymnastics competition. Your wedding where she promised to be yours forever, where she promised to spend her life with you. The many times you had ruined her, the many times you had tainted her with your blood stained hands. You are a curse, you think, you are a terrible, awful curse that causes everyone you ever dare to love to die.

You know it in your heart, you cannot save her. You've known it this whole time, yet you still let yourself hope. You can't be that child any longer, the one that hoped for love, for acceptance, for a happier future, you know you don't deserve it. If you cannot save her, you will join her. You will stay here with her, and fulfill your promise to remain by her side until the very end. It is the only thing left that you can do. When her world finally disappears, you will go with it. That is your decision.

Your pace quickens, you need to find her cognitive self, you need to be with her. There is nothing you need more than that right now. You need the warmth of her body, the soft touch of her fingertips grazing your skin. All you want is to untie the ribbon holding her together and tangle yourself between the strands of her hair, her beautiful crimson hair. It would fall all around you like rays of light, encircling you with the pure love you so desperately want, the pure love that you never deserved.

The screams in your head fade as they are replaced with a soft sobbing. Your heart calms from the sound of her voice, even though you know it shouldn't. You can finally see her in the distance, a delicate silhouette sat clutching onto her knees, trying to hold herself together. The need to make her pain go away rises within you, and you run to her, closing the distance. She looks up at you, hope filling her eyes, her light sparkling within her, and you feel the warmth of it touch your soul once more.

She rises to her feet, arms outstretched, waiting to give you everything you desire. Even now she does not hold herself back from you, even now she gives herself willingly. You cannot hold back either, you embrace her as quickly as you can, and tangle your fingers in her hair. You're finally home. You're where you belong. Her arms encircle you, and you feel your wounds begin to heal again.

"Goro, I'm so sorry," She cries, her voice muffled against your chest. "I didn't want to leave you." Why does she love you so, despite everything you've done?

"I know," You assure her. You can feel her hands clutching at the back of your shirt, grasping onto it as if she would fall if she didn't hold onto you this way. "You were right, you know. I truly am ruthless. In the end, I failed to show even you mercy." You can feel the water filling your eyes again, blurring your vision, until it overflows and rolls down your cheeks. You hate this, you hate this weakness. You used to be able to suppress it and lock it away beneath stoic indifference, and you wished you had stayed that way. If you had...she wouldn't be…

Sumire feels your tears fall like rain upon her head, and looks up at you, a weak smile forming on her face. Her hand moves toward your cheek, caressing it, and she shifts herself onto her tiptoes so that she can kiss you, soft lips wiping away the tears.

"You didn't fail, I did. It was my worthless fragile body that failed you," She tells you, her voice low and riddled with a strange unsettling apathy. Your hand glides down her back, desperate to show her how wrong she is, desperate to show her some form of pleasure that could be derived from the shell that she felt trapped within. But you know there's no time for that. 

"Don't say such preposterous things," You demand of her, perhaps a little too aggressively. You cannot stand to hear her speak of herself that way. She drops back down onto the balls of her feet and looks up at you, lips parted and eyes wide in shock. "I love every inch of you, every centimeter. It was your body that taught me that I could be gentle, that I could love, and feel loved in return. Don't ever call it worthless again."

It's as if your words trigger something within her mind. All at once flashes of every single time you had made love to her appear all around you. She embraces you so quickly, so desperately, as if she is about to disappear, and you think maybe she is. Maybe this is the grand finale of her performance. Maybe the curtains will close soon. "You need to leave. I won't let you die here with me," She states. You let out a sigh. She knows you far too well.

"I was meant to die a long time ago. I accept my end. I have no desire to continue to live in a world without you," You tell her and she pulls back from you. Her eyes are filled with worry as she looks up at you.

"But don't you want to live for our daughter?" She asks. Your eyes narrow as you think of her, the child you only held for a split second before everything went so horribly wrong.

"We already named Akira and Ann as her godparents. I trust they will do a better job than I ever could...I'm not...I'm not worthy of being her father, and I fear that my very existence will cause her to die too," Your voice begins to tremble again. You don't want to be this. You don't want to abandon your daughter this way, but you cannot erase your past. You want her to be free of it. Free of you. Perhaps then, the world might spare her.

You can feel the familiar vibrations of a collapsing mental state beginning beneath your feet, and it fuels your anger, your frustration, until it once again boils to the surface. "I'm so fucking useless. All I can do is kill, and there's nothing I can kill to fix this! I deserve to die for what I've done to you. You would live if it weren't for me."

The vibrations are getting worse with each second. You're running out of time. Sumire knows this, and she shoves you away from her. "You didn't do this to me. Can't you see? I wanted to have a family with you too. Maybe I wouldn't have gone down this same path if I didn't have you, but...I don't want that life. I want you, no matter what the ending is. I love you," Sorrow fills her eyes, then is quickly replaced by anger. "That's why I won't let you die a meaningless death because of me like Kasumi did!" Sumire yells with such ferocity, such fire. She raises her hand to her face, revealing her mask, and calls forth Ella to threaten you.

She attacks you with a bless attack, trying to trigger your combat instincts to force you to fight back. She wants you to live, she wants you to keep going, but you cannot raise a hand to her, even after she throws swords at you. You can only watch as she dances with Ella, her movements entrancing you, just as they had so many years ago. She brings you to your knees with her dance of pain and you think, if this is to be the final thing that you see, then perhaps it is a good way to go.

"Why won't you fight?" Sumire screams in frustration. She is panting, heaving, exhausted from her repeated attacks against you. "Do something, anything! Just stop acting so fucking weak! You're Crow! You're more powerful than anyone I know. Please...fight! It's all I'm asking for. Won't you honor my wishes?"

You don't want to let her down. You want to honor her wishes, but you are tired of fighting. What is the point when the world will never let you be happy? You think of your mother, and how powerless you were then too. You couldn't save her, and you can't save Sumire either. A weakling like you doesn't deserve life.

Sumire stops attacking you and moves toward you with Ella following her. She reaches her hand into your pocket and pulls out your phone. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you make this choice..." She whispers. You want to stop her but it is already too late, her fingers press the navigation button. She is forcing you out before the final collapse. "I know you'll be angry at me for making this decision for you, but at least you'll be alive to be angry."

"No! I don't want your fucking mercy! You can't do this to me!" You scream at Sumire as you feel the metanav try to pull you away. "I'm not leaving you! I refuse!"

"Goodbye, Goro. Be a good father for me, okay?" Sumire tells you goodbye as if it's all over, as if there's no hope left. You realize now, this isn't justice at all, this is just cruelty.

You can't take this anymore. You won't take this anymore. You don't want to raise your daughter alone, you want Sumire by your side, forever. The world doesn't care, it never cared, and if you let it, it'll continue to take away everything from you, just like it took away your mother. Just like it's trying to take away Sumire. You have to figure out a way to save her yourself. _You._

Your mind has been made up. You have decided, you won't go, you won't let it take you back. She asked you to fight, and you will. You will fight to stay, fight to save her. You cannot be weak any longer. Your entire life was nothing but endless misery until you met Sumire. She loved you. She healed you. She showed you that you could belong somewhere, that you belonged with her. Sumire is everything to you. The world cannot take her from you, you won't allow it. You refuse to be powerless ever again. Your resolve is set, and from it, a new mask begins to form on your face.

"So this is your choice," A voice says from deep within you. "You spent so many years concealing me from the world. Pretend you don't exist, you'd say to me, and I would listen. I would obey, but you always knew I was there. After all, for every coin there are two sides. Robin Hood for your lies, Hereward for your truth. Loki for your hatred, and me...for your love. I was always there, always out of reach because you never wanted me to exist, never wanted to call me forth. You even referred to me as a curse, but I am not a curse and I will hide no more. I will grant your wish to save her, for it is one born from me, one of your many true selves. Let us form a pact..."

The metanav continues to try to take you back, but you refuse, and your persona rises forth. A horrifically twisted humanoid silhouette grabs hold of Ella's hand, cementing you in place in Sumire's cognitive world. Nothing can move you now.

"I am thou, thou art I..." You rip the mask off violently, and the blood splatters across the floor. "You're right. I was being pathetic and weak. I'm done with that. You didn't fall in love with me because I'm kind or gentle or soft. You fell in love with me because I'm a fucking monster that would kill anything that tried to harm you. You saw my ruthless behavior, my shitty attitude, my cold cynicism, and you didn't look away. You let my past remain in the past, you even healed me, loved me. You put your faith and your trust in me, against all logic, and I won't betray that. I love you and I won't allow this world to take you from me. I will fight for you."

Your persona is slowly given form, slowly revealed. Sumire looks upon it, slightly fearful, but she does not look away. Before her stands a prince, though it is the most frightening prince she has ever laid her eyes upon. It stares back at her, red eyes reflecting a certain kindness and warmth that contrasts the blood stained dark clothes and claws.

"If the world thinks you deserve to be punished for loving me, then fuck the world. I'll fix you myself. I will force your heart to beat, force your blood to flow within your veins. You will feel a lot of pain, but it will subside and you will live," You inform Sumire. She shifts her gaze toward you, and a strange calmness washes over her face. She truly does trust you entirely.

"I understand. Do what you need to do," She replies. You do not waste anymore precious time, for there is not much left.

"Good. Then go, Henry, save your princess," You command, and Henry obeys. His claws grasp onto Sumire's shoulders.

"H-Henry?" Sumire questions, confused by the identity of your persona. Henry leers over her, and she grows nervous and takes a step back. You just smile, and let out a small chuckle at her reaction.

"I would think you of all people would know the name of your own persona's prince. Anyway, try to relax, it'll be easier for you," You instruct her. She listens and calms her body as best she can.

Sumire is then enveloped in a red glow as you breathe life into her. Her heart begins to beat once more, and her body burns as the blood starts to flow through her veins again. You can see the pain apparent on her face, but you do not stop. All around you her mind is lighting up, colors and shapes and memories appearing all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling. This is how she is meant to be, you think, bright and colorful and alive.

She lets out a scream as the pain becomes unbearable and it takes everything you have to not stop. All you want is to hold her in your arms and make it go away, make her feel safe and calm. But you know you must keep going, and as you do, her screams grow worse and worse as the room gets brighter and brighter, until it begins emanating a vibrant blood red glow.

After a while, Sumire's screams cease as you feel your power begin to fade. Henry soon releases her and disappears. You fall to your knees, weak from the ordeal, and find the floor is much softer than before. When you look down, you see the once barren ground is now blooming with flowers. All around you, you can hear the sounds of her memories. The space echoes with laughter and happiness, and the sound of your own voice, telling her that you love her. Rays of sunlight touch your skin, pouring in from above you, and everything is bright and peaceful once more.

You hear footsteps and turn your head to look. Passing beside you, you can see a cognitive version of yourself, dressed in your black mask outfit. He does not acknowledge you, he simply moves past you and approaches Sumire, who is lying on the ground. She opens her eyes when he gets close, and sits up. "Goro..." She says, happiness flooding her face, and the cognitive you removes his mask. When he does so, his clothes change to that of a prince, but they're not like your detective prince facade. They're not a lie fabricated to look how you think the world wants to see you. They feel like you, like the truth.

Is this truly how she views you? He holds out his hand for her, and she takes it. Then he pulls her up into his arms and holds her close. You realize as you look upon this, Sumire never viewed you as a monster at all. All this time, she had always viewed you like this, as her prince. As the idea finally settles in your mind, your own clothes transform to match the cognitive version of yourself. This would be your new mask, your new outfit, and with it the curse you bore all these years is finally dispelled. From now on, you would see yourself through her eyes, as someone worthy of love.

Before you can do anything further, the metanav takes you back to reality, no longer stopped by Henry's power. When you arrive back, you rush to Sumire's side again, holding no desire greater than the one to know that she is truly alive once more. Your hand reaches for hers, and relief washes over you like waves coming into shore. Her fingers intertwine with yours automatically, and all at once you feel the slivers that had been embedded into your palms melt away beneath the warmth of her touch. "Goro..." She calls out your name in a whisper as her eyes slowly flutter open.

"Sumire..." Your voice sounds breathy and staggered, and you can feel your eyes begin to fill with tears once again, only this time it is not from sadness. It is from pure happiness. Her eyes try to focus on you, and she realizes you're crying. Concern floods her heart, for she's never seen you cry before.

"Why are you crying?" She asks, and her voice sounds like a sweet melody to your ears. It is a song you could play over and over and never tire of.

"Because you're alive," You tell her, and she just smiles.

"Of course I am. I would never leave you," She replies, unaware of the events that had transpired earlier. Her words finally cause what little composure you have left to shatter, and all you can do is fall into her lap, arms wrapping around her tiny body and head resting against her chest as your tears soak her hospital gown. Her arms encircle you with the love you desperately need, and you do not think you are undeserving this time. Instead, you let your mind go quiet as she runs her fingers through your hair, listening to the soft rhythm of her heart beating against your ear. "Did something happen?" She asks you.

"Don't worry about it," You respond, your voice finally returning to something that somewhat resembles normal to you. "You're here with me, and that's all that matters. I'll always keep you safe."

"I know. You always have," She reminds you, and that's when you realize, killing had never been all that you were capable of. You had always protected her, always kept her safe. You taught her caution, you taught her reason, you pulled her back whenever she would risk her own safety recklessly. More than anything, you are and always have been the one person that she could rely on, and you never failed her once. Even now, when you had what appeared to be an impossible mission, you still succeeded for her. You found a way to save her.

After a minute passes and your tears cease, Sumire taps you on the shoulder, gently, and you pull back a bit to look at her. "Goro," She says with a look of worry on her face. "Where's our daughter?" You don't know the answer to that question. They took her from you when Sumire's vitals started decreasing and you haven't seen her since. They must have taken her somewhere else within the hospital.

"I'll go find her," You tell her, and her expression calms.

You go to find a nurse outside of Sumire's room, and explain the situation to her. You put on your best detective prince facade and tell her that they made a mistake, that Sumire had not died, and that you'd like them to bring your daughter to the room. She seems confused, but follows you to Sumire's room anyway to see her alive and well, with all vitals displaying as normal. She then apologizes, and does as you ask. Luckily people are always willing to believe that someone else has made an error, rather than believe that anything resembling a miracle took place.

A few minutes later she brings your daughter to the room, and hands her to you before leaving. Though you have held your daughter once before, you did not really have a chance to form any kind of connection to her. Now that things are calm, you can actually look at her, and take in the sight of the tiny baby that is a piece of you and a piece of Sumire. Her hair and eyes are decidedly yours, but her sweet smile and calm demeanor are that of Sumire's. As you gaze upon her, all you can do is wonder how you ever thought about leaving her behind. You promise her in your mind you will never be that weak again.

Sumire watches you, a smile forming on her face. She can tell from the look in your eyes that the realization that you are a father now has finally hit you. You carry your daughter to her, and pass her to her mother, and you watch peacefully as the same realization hits her as well. "She looks just like you..." Sumire tells you, and you smile.

"That's what you wanted, isn't it?" You ask her. She nods, happily.

"Yes. We never decided on a name though," She reminds you. You had looked through many name books, trying to search for the perfect one with the perfect meaning, but none had ever seemed quite right. Looking at your daughter now, however, you know exactly what you want to name her.

"Could we call her Reimi, after my mother?" You request as you look at the features that you inherited from your mother now present in your daughter as well.

"I think that's a beautiful name. Reimi it is then," Sumire replies. "We're like a little family now." Hearing her refer to the three of you as a family fills your heart with joy. She has given you the one thing that you believed with all of your soul that you could never have, and no words exist in this world that would adequately express the love that you have for her for it.

The two of you spend time just gazing upon your daughter and holding her, until finally you remember you have Sumire's phone in your pocket still. "I almost forgot, here, you had some messages come through," You tell her as you hand the phone to her. Her expression falls and she just stares at it for a moment, as if the phone has brought back a sad memory for her.

"This isn't my phone. This is Kasumi's phone," She informs you, and you take it back from her to examine it. You turn it over in your hand, repeatedly, looking at all of the damages it still held from the accident, including the screen crack that you thought had happened earlier in the day.

"How did I get them mixed up? You don't even use this model anymore..." You wonder aloud.

"I'm surprised it even still works. I thought it had died a while ago," Sumire says, which prompts you to check and see if it functions still. It had to, right? You were just using it...yet when you press the home screen button, nothing happens. Perhaps it shut off, you think, so you try the power button, but still it remains unresponsive.

"The battery must have died," You assume, but in truth you are not certain.

"Why did you bring it with us anyway?" Sumire asks you.

"I didn't. I thought you did."

"No. Why would I?"

The phone vibrates and the screen lights up, which surprises you and causes you to drop it on the bed. Both of you lean over and look at the screen, where a text message from an unknown number is displayed.

_Thank you for saving my sister for me._

It's impossible for that message to be real, you think, but somehow you know that it is, because it's the only possible way to explain everything that has happened. The strange version of the metanav, the fact that you were able to access the mind of someone who had no palace and who had by all accounts been considered dead... Kasumi being the answer wraps all of that up into a tidy little package complete with a pretty red ribbon.

You know you'll never receive any real evidence of it being Kasumi aside from that message, but you decide that just this once, you don't need any. Sumire's living, breathing body is all the evidence you need. It's all you will ever need.


End file.
